Bronwyn Pullar's press statement today – one of the first times the woman at the centre of a top-level ACC leak investigation has made comment on the saga and its fallout – raises further questions over just what is going on in the controve
Bronwyn Pullar’s press statement today – one of the first times the woman at the centre of a top-level ACC leak investigation has made comment on the saga and its fallout – raises further questions over just what is going on in the controversy she has attracted.
Ms Pullar made the statement after a 2007 letter from Sovereign Insurance to her friend and PR guard-dog Michelle Boag, was leaked to the media by a source yet to be identified.
The Sovereign letter names 28 people, including Prime Minister John Key among other National Party heavyweights, in what appears to be an attempt to influence and push through what is now alleged to be a $14 million income insurance claim by Ms Pullar.
Sovereign's letter describes the 28 names as members of "Bronwyn's claims suport/advisory team".
The suggestion is the heavy-hitting "team" was there to influence and exert leverage over Sovereign Insurance in what could be seen as a thinly-veiled threat to the insurer.
In her statement to NBR Online, Ms Pullar describes the list of names as “known people who were aware of my dispute with the insurer, and who the insurer may encounter in the course of their business.
“This was in the context of us entering into negotiations to reach a confidential settlement,” it said.
The statement raises questions about the identity of who the unnamed “adviser” who Ms Pullar says asked her to prepare the list of people.
Ms Boag told NBR Online the adviser mentioned in the statement was an legal adviser she did not name.
“Provision of this list was necessary in case the insurer subsequently faced questions from these parties who had knowledge of the dispute.”
Read the full statement here.
Sovereign Insurance said it would not be commenting on the letter, the nature of any payout to Ms Pullar or the controversy that currently surrounds her.
Ms Pullar also wouldn’t confirm details about what is said to be a seven-figure insurance payout from Sovereign, made under an income protection policy – related to the 2002 bike accident from which she suffered head injuries.
NBR Online understands the amount was as much as $3 million and ACC’s knowledge of the payout could have played a part in Ms Pullar's struggle for
ongoing compensation.
